Xavier Alvarez is one in a continuing line of outcasts -- anarchists, Communists, flag burners, racists, fringe religious and political fanatics -- to whom we owe an eternal debt of gratitude for keeping the embers of free speech alive.

The scene is a sidewalk just beyond the rather overdone Hawa Mahal in Jaipur, and the camera in question is less instrument, more living fossil — built by the Carl Zeiss company in 1860, it is nearly three times as old as independent India.

In a world awash with new tools for communication and engagement, the symbolism, mystique and magic of anonymity, however seductive, is losing ground to new anthems celebrating the spirit of contact, connection and interaction.

“The National Awards, sadly, are no longer what they used to be, with the favoritism, regionalism,politics and quid-pro-quo rampant. However, compared to the scores of others they are still streets ahead.

The awkward fact remains that although Bollywood is the world’s largest movie factory, we don’t register even a hiccup in this gala, global, mega feast. Historically we have been conditioned and programmed to believe that it’s not the winning or losing, but participation that is the key.

The women who have been educated at MDBS have little in common with the well-heeled students in MBA programs around the world. They are an eclectic mix of ages ranging from 19 to 50. They include a potter, a spice and noodle maker, a seamstress, a goat and sheep herder, a farmer, a homemaker and a bangle vendor.

Dancers say the popularity of Latino dances lies in the inherent joyousness, the friendships it generates on the floor across cultural divides — and the free-flowing body language, open to improvisations.

Even as Buddhism captures the imagination of the West, the West is capturing the hearts of Tibetans in Dharamsala, the capitol of Tibetans in exile, notwithstanding the Dalai Lama’s frequent exhortations against Tibetans losing their identity.

The richest people and companies — such as Fortune magazine’s list of the world’s largest companies or the world’s richest — are atleast based on measurable criteria of wealth, and even they hit and miss, because not all assets are in accessible public databases.

The history — and knowledge — of the universe carved by humans, based on the information we received, is a small part of the big picture: a universe of our own creation, one that is plagued by dark forces and our ignorance.

Indian outsourcing companies may be providing technology solutions to the world’s largest companies, but Indian government officials, right up to the Indian prime minister’s office and the Indian Air Force, rely on free e-mail services from Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo to conduct official business, according to a Bloomberg report.